Refrigerator



Sept. 27, 1938. c. W..PETERSON REFRIGERATOR Filed Aug. 12, 1937 Patented Sept. 27, 1938 h UNITED STATES REFRIGERATOR Charles W. Peterson, Cincinnati, Ohio, assignor, by mesne assignments, to The Crosley Radio Corporation, Cincinnati, Ohioya corporation of Ohio 3 Application August 12,1937, Serial No. 158,647 2 Claims. (Cl. 62-89) My invention relates to domestic food refrigerators which have shelves on the inside of the door, and the object of my invention is to partition off this shelf space from the dried air in the main part of the refrigerator so that these shelves will be a suitable place to keep fresh vegetables, apples and other foods which wither or are harmfully dried'out by the very dry air always present in refrigerators which are cooled by a cooling unit kept colder than the freezing point of water. This door shelf space is not cooled by air convection currents from the main part of the refrigerator, as has formerly been the practice, forybeing sealed tightly by the hinged partition provided, it is cooled only by heat removed by conduction through the metal or otherv material out of which the partition is made.

Names such as FHumi-Shelvador, Crispador, Crisper-Shelvador or Humidoor refrigerator would suitably describe refrigerators containing my improvement.

My invention may be clearly understood by reference to the accompanying drawing, in-which: Fig. 1 is a plan sectional view of the front part of the refrigerator atthe door latch; Fig. 2,'

a side vertical section on line 2-2, Fig. 1; and Figs. 3, 4 and 5 are small vertical views of one type of suitable door handle and latch mechanism on lines 33,' 4-4 and 55 respectively, Fig. 1;

. Figs. 4 and 5 being sectional and enlarged for clarity.

Similar numerals refer to similar partsv throughout the several views.

The refrigerator shown has the usual box I and door 2 of heat insulating material, and the usual cooling unit 3, tray 4 and shelves 5 5, Fig. 2. Three wire shelves 6 6 6 and a special tight shelf 7, Fig. 2, are'all fastened to back side of door 2.

The special feature of my invention is the inner door, partition or cover 8, whose rim 9 seals against gasket ll] of back side of door 2 and against gasket ll of refrigerator box I. This inner door may be fiat, slightly dished as shown,

or deeply pan shaped, depending on whether the back side of the refrigerator door is deeply recessed to fully cover the door shelves, moderately recessed to nearly cover the door shelves as shown, or flat; as a tight chamber entirely covering the door shelves must be formed between door 2 and cover 8:

This inner door 8 is hinged at, or in line with, the main refrigerator door hinges l2, Fig. 1, so that the two doors may be swung as a unit or separately as desired. This selective opening of the two doors is made possible by a special door handle and latch mechanism, one of many possible types of which is shown in the drawing.

This latch shown operates as follows:

If it is desired to open the main part of the 5 refrigerator leaving the door shelf space sealed, handle I3 is turned to R, Fig. 3, which turns door handle hook l4 out from under stationary hook I5, Figs. 1 and 5, releasing the door. Inner door 8 swings as a unit with outer door 2, as inner l0 door handle hook it remains behind latch hole edge [1 of inner door 8, Figs. 1 and 4. If {it is afterward desired to open the door shelf space when the main part of the refrigerator is already open, it is merely necessary to turn door handle l5 l3 to D, Fig. 3 or if the handle I3 is not available because of the open position of the door, the hook shaped end IA of handle shaft may be usedv as a knob to move the shaft to the position equivalent to the position 1) at which the hook i6 20 is released from engagement behind the latch hole edge l1.

If it is desired to open the door shelf space of the refrigerator leaving the main refrigeratorspace sealed, door handle [3 is turned to D, Fig. 25 3, whichturns door handle hook l4 out from under stationary hook l5, Figs. 1 and 5, releasing the outer door, but inner door 8 does not open with it because inner door handle hook l6 turns to holev I8 in inner door 8, Fig. 4, and.in- 30 her door rim 9 is arrested by spring ball catch l9, Figs. 1 and 4. If it is afterward desired to open the main part .of the refrigerator also,

the inner door may be pulled open past ball catch H! by one finger inserted in latch hole 35 I8, Fig. .4, or by means of an inner door handle that may be provided.

Since the door shelf humidor chamber is cooled by heat being removed by conduction through the material of inner door 8 and not bythe usual 40 air convection current method, it'is a very simple matter to design this door shelf chamber so that the temperature at different shelves is different so as to'be suitable for different kinds of foods. For instance: room temperature is too warm and 45 standardrefrigerator temperature too cold for keeping bananas well. In Fig. 2, upper shelf 1 has been made a place of proper temperature for keeping bananas, by adding the right amount of heat insulating material 20 to the part of inner 50 door 8 enclosing this shelf, and by making this shelf solid sothat convection currents of air from the lower door shelf space will not hinder.

In refrigerators that are opened and closed many times in a day, my invention adds consid- 56 erable economy of operation. for when the door shelf space only is opened, the cold air in the main part of the refrigerator is not 'lost; and when the main part of the refrigerator only is opened, ,the cold humid air of the door shelf space is not lost and the food in these shelves is not dried out.

What I claim'as new and wish to protect by Letters Patent is:

r 1. A refrigerator including an outer door formed to provide a compartment and having shelves therein, an inner door movabiy mounted with respect to the other door to seal or expose said compartment, said inner door having means thereon arranged to modify heattransfer therethrough in the vicinity of certain of the shelves.

2. A refrigerator having an opening to a main 7 compartment for the storage of food and in- 

